1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system for automatically feeding lubricating oil to bearing parts of various machine elements. In particular, the present invention relates to an automatic lubricating oil feeding system which can centralistically control a plurality of dependent terminals to feed lubricating oil to required parts at proper times, respectively, by receiving the operation state information from the respective terminals as a central controller.
2. Description of the Related Art
In order to achieve an automatic lubricating oil feeding to machine elements such as bearings of various industrial equipments, diverse kinds of lubricating oil feeding apparatuses have been developed and used.
One among such conventional apparatuses is a spring type lubricating oil feeding apparatus in which a spring is simply installed in a housing containing lubricating oil and which presses and discharges the oil by the elasticity of the spring. Another one is an electric lubricating oil feeding apparatus which expands gas in a gas chamber utilizing an electric signal and presses and discharges the oil by the expanded gas.
The former feeds the oil only by the spring force and thus an accurate feeding operation cannot be effected. Further, since the residual quantity of oil in the apparatus cannot be ascertained, the proper management of the oil feeding and the timely replacement of the apparatus cannot be achieved.
The latter has the advantage that determination of various lubricating oil feeding modes can be possible. However, when a plurality of lubricating oil feeding apparatuses are installed on a plurality of machine elements, respectively, separate maintenance and management for the respective apparatuses is required. The operating states the respective apparatuses are in, cannot be defined.
In general, the above-described conventional apparatuses have the advantage that they can continuously feed the lubricating oil to the required machine elements. However, since the feeding of the oil is performed by the apparatus for a long time in the range of several month to several years, and a large number of apparatuses are installed on the required machine elements, respectively, a great deal of management is required in patrolling and checking all the apparatuses one by one. If the apparatuses are left in an abnormal oil feeding state or to vanish completely due to the negligence of management, it causes the machine elements to be damaged.